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By Ewan Palmer
News Reporter
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Police in Georgia have arrested 20 men for allegedly trying to meet children for sex in a large-scale sting operation.
The men, aged between 20 and 59, are accused of traveling to areas across Northwest Georgia with the intention of engaging in sexual activity with a child after speaking to investigators posing as minors online.
According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, undercover officers had more than 200 exchanges with suspects on various social media sites or online platforms over the course of several months as part of "Operation Paladin."
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"Many of those were exchanges in which the subject initiated contact with whom they believed to be a minor and directed the conversation towards sex," the bureau said in a statement.
"In some of those cases, the subject introduced obscene or lewd content, often exposing the minor (undercover) to pornography or requesting the child take nude or pornographic images for them."
Detectives said several suspects were found to be communicating simultaneously with multiple investigators posing as minors at the same time.
At least one of the arrested suspects is a registered sex offender, with several others also found to be in possession of illegal drugs at the time of their arrest. A total of 24 cellphones were seized as evidence as part of the investigation.
Each man has been charged with violating the Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007 or trafficking of persons for labor or sexual servitude following their arrest. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation said that additional charges may be forthcoming.
"This operation is a prime example of interagency planning and cooperation," Bartow County Sheriff's Office Sheriff Clark Millsap said in a statement.
"I am proud that we were able to host the Georgia ICAC Task Force at our facility to carry it out. Moreover, I hope that these arrests send a loud and clear message: the Bartow County Sheriff's Office has a zero-tolerance policy for exploitation of children.
"We will continue to work with the ICAC Task Force whenever needed to stop these predators. Bartow County is a great community and we will work relentlessly to ensure that it remains a safe place for our children," Millsap added.
Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force said they have arrested more than 100 other suspects in similar operations since 2014.
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